The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-20


would have been a pitiful bIngler if he had
made the rule of our moral conduct matter of
science. For man of science there
thousands who are not. What would have be-
come of them2 Man destined for society
His morality. therefore, was to be formed to this
object. He was endowed with the sense of right
and wrong merely relative to this sense This
sense Is as much part of his nature as the sense
OF hearing seeing. feeling: IL is the true founda
tlon sot morality, and not the gonfaian. truth,
etc, as fancfuI writer's have imagined. The
moral sense or conscience is as much part OF
man as his leg or arm It is given to all human
oeings In stronger or weaker degree.
as force of members is given in greater of
less degree. 1t may be strengthened
10y, oy exercise, as may any particular
some degree to the guidance of reason. but tits
small stock which is required for this, even a
less one than what we call common sense. State
moral case to a plowman and a professor The
former Will decide it as we'll, and often better,
than the latter, because he has not been led
astray by artificial rules. In this branch, there
a. veil neaa oooss, because .ney Tai emeourage
Sterne, particularly, form the best course of
moraity that ever was written. Besides these,
READ the books mentioned in tho Endorsed pap or,
and. above all things, lose no occasion of exer-
cisIng your disposition to be grateful, to be gen.
erous to be charitable. to be true. just, firm, or
DERBY, courageous, etc Consider every act of
this kind act which will strengthen your
moral faculties and increase your worth.
4. Religion Your reason is now mature
enough TO examine this object. In the first
OF novelty or singularity of opinion. Indulge
them in any other subject rather than that Of
religion. It is too important, and the conse-
quences OF error may be too serious. On the
other hand, shake off all fear and servile preiu
dices under which weak minds servely
crouehed. Fix reason firm in her seat and call
to her tribunal every fact. every opinion
Question with boldness the very existence of a
God; because, if there be one. He must more ap-
prove the homage of reason than that of blind
folded fear. You will naturally examine first
country
Bible, then, as you would read Livy Tacitus.
Facts which are in the ordinary course of nature
writer you do those of the kind in
Livy and Tacitus. The testimony of the
writer weighs in their favor in scale. and
these, not being against the laws OF nature do
not weigh against them. But those facts in the
Bible which contradict the laws of nature must
be examined with more care and under variety
of phases. Here you must recur to pretensions of
the writer inspiration from God. Examine
upon what evidence mis- pretensions are founded,
and whether that evidence is SO strong that its
falsehood would be more improbable than
change of the laws of nature in the he
lates- For example, in the book of Joshua
are told the sun stood still several hours.
Wers we to read that fact in Livy
Tacticus should class it with their
showers of blood, speaking statues, beasts. etc.
BUTT Is said that the writer of that book was
inspired Examine, therefore, candidly, what
evidence there is of his having been inspired.
The pretension is entitled to your inquiry be-
cause millions believe it. On the other hand
you are astronomer enough to know how con-
trary it is to the law of nature that a body re-
voIving on its axis, the earth does, should have
stopped. should not by that sudden stoppage,
have Frustrated animals, trees, buildings. and
should, after certain time, have resumed its
revolution and that without second general
prostraton. Is this arrest of the earth's motion.
or the evidence which affirms it. most within the
law of probabilities
You will next read the New Testament It
is the history of q parsonage called Jesus
Keep in your eye the opposite pretensons; first.
Of thopo xrLn b. "a Aar~.
of virgin. suspended and reversed the laws of
nature at will, and assembled bodily into heaven;
and second. of those who say he a of
lliegitimate birth, OF benevolent heart enthu-
siastic mind, who set out with pretensions to
divinity, ended in believing them aud pun
ished capitally for sediton by being gibbeted
according to the Roman law. which punished the
first commission of that offense by whipping and
the second by exile or death in funca. See this
law in the digest Lib. 48, Tit. 10, Sec. %, 3.
and Lipsius. Lib. 2. De Cruce cap. 0.
These questions examined in the
book had mentioned under the head of re-
ligion and several others They will assist you
in your inquiries; but keep your reason firmly
on the watch in reading them all. Do not be
frightened from this inquiry by any fear of it's
consequences. If it ends the belief that there
isno God YOU will find Indictment to virtue in the
comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exer-
else, and the love of others which it will procure
You. IL you find reason to believe there is a
God. consciousness that you acting under
His eye and that He approves you will be vast
additional Indictment; if there be future state,
the hope or a happy existence In that increases
the appetite to deserve it: if that Jesus was
also God you will be comforted by a
belief OF His aid aud love. In fine, 1
repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice
leve reject anything because any
other person or description of persons have
jected or believed it. Your own reason is the
only oracle given by heaven, and You are
swerable, not for the rightness, but for ths up
rightness of the decision. l forgot to observe,
when speaking of the New Testament, that you
shOud Al q of Christ as wal
those whom council of ecclesiastcs have de-
cided for US to be pseudo-evangelists those
they named evangelist, because those pseudo
evangelists pretend to inspiration as much as the
others. and you are to judge of their professions
by your own reason, and not By the reason of
those ecclesiastics. Most or these are lost There
are some, however, still extant collected by
Fabricius, which will endeavor to get and send
you.
s. Travelling This makes men WISER but less
happy. : When men of sober age travel they
gather knowledge which they may apply useful
ly for their country, but they are, after ALL sub
ject to recoections mixed with regret their af-
fections are weakened by being extended over
more Objects and they learn new habits which
cannot be gratifed when they return home.
Young men who travel are exposed to all these
Inconvenience in a higher degree to others more
serious. and do not acquire that wisdom for
which a previous foundation is requisite by
peated and just observations at home. The glare
of pomp and pleasure is analogous to the motion
of the blood it absorbs all their affections and
attention; they are torn from it, as from the only
Rooo In tnlS Wofto, anu return TO their nome
place of exile and condemna-
ton. Their eyes turned back
to the object they have lost, and its recollection
posons the residue of their lives Their first
and most delicate passions hackneyed on
worthy objects here, and they carry home the
dregs insufficient to make themselves or any
body else happy. Add to this that habit of
ldleness, and inability to apply themselves to
business. is acquired and renders them useless
to themselves and their country. These obser-
vations are founded in experience. There is no
place where your pursuit of knowledge will be
little obstructed by foreign objects in
your own country, nor any wherein the virtues
of the heart will be less exposed to be weakened.
Be good, be learned and be industrious, and
you will not want the aid OF travelling to render
you precious to your country. dear to your
friends happy within yourself. / repeat my ad-
vice to take a great deal of exercise, and foot.
Health is the first requisite for morality. Write
to oftensr and be assured OF the interest l
taEa in all he h0f